Reply #85: Trying to hide the obvious. [View All]

[hay rick]

Very first paragraph:
"The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances."
No mention of what the payment is for.

From paragraph 9:
"Missing the $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30, intended to finance retirees’ future health care, won’t cause immediate disaster."
The reason for the payment is safely tucked away in a subordinate clause.

Finally, paragraph 15:
"Postal service officials say one reason for their high costs is that they are legally required to provide universal service, making deliveries to 150 million addresses nationwide each week. They add that a major factor for the post office’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years is a 2006 law requiring the postal service to pay an average of $5.5 billion annually for 10 years to finance retiree health costs for the next 75 years."

The construction "they add" minimizes the importance of what follows. Saying that the pre-funding requirement is a "major factor" in the post office's losses is a misrepresentation that diverts attention from the fact that the pre-funding requirement actually accounts for the ENTIRE loss over that time period.